CULTURAL HEGEMONY OR CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM?

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." ~John Adams, 1798

For thousands of years; kingdoms, nations and empires have arisen upon this earth, and they have fallen, whether by rapid destruction or gradual decline. As a result, humankind has experimented with every form of government, political system, and philosophic framework imaginable, in order to circumvent this inevitability, but the result is always the same, we've been helplessly unable to avoid it. Every year it seems that some group or individual within the Christian Church picks one of these failed ideologies off of the scrap heap of history and tries to "re-imagine or re-boot", the Body of Christ with it, claiming a new cutting edge principle or philosophy of ministry has been realized, which will transform our churches and communities. 

One such ideology which is growing rapidly in the Church around the world, is the concept of Cultural or Christian Hegemony, which was introduced by an Italian named, Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937), who is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony. Hegemonic power is a complex and powerful form of social control and domination. "The National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany in the 1930s could be described as a political and military hegemony. In anthropology, however, hegemonic power (or hegemony) refers to the dominance of ideas or culture, such that imbalances of power or other inequalities are maintained. (Howell 135)"

It is this type of power structure that some Christians envision today and seek to wield, in order to supplant the negative hegemonies already in society with more positive ones, like Christian churches and ministries, presumably. Now, on the surface, this doesn't seem so bad, but it has been tried before, and has failed. Far too often, this kind of “Kingdom Theology” has crept back into our thinking, and we feel that we must take hold of the reins of power in the kingdom of this earth, before God’s Kingdom can be established and reign in glory.

It’s just not true, and every time we try to make that happen, instead of doing what Christ really commanded us to do, it ends in disaster, i.e. the Catholic church, the Moral Majority, the Religious Right, etc. The only power that we are authorized to use is the power of persuasion, the power of the Holy Spirit and of God’s Word. i.e “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (NKJV Acts 1:8)"

Otherwise, why did Jesus say, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations... (Mat 28:18-20)” This would have been a good time for him to say, “Oh, and use all of the man-made governmental, political systems, and philosophical ideologies at your disposal as well, especially cultural hegemony, in order to accomplish this mission.” He could have, but He didn't.

Look, I realize that Paul was able to provide a great testimony to the Roman State through his imprisonment, and this is often used to justify our involvement in politics and government, but I feel this is a distortion of the purpose for Paul’s trial and eventual martyrdom. When Jesus was questioned by Pontius Pilate, He declared to Pilate that, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here. (John 18:36)”

Jesus modeled a ministry that was completely divorced from government, politics, and even organized religion to a large degree, and His disciples followed this pattern to their deaths. So many Scripture verses back this up: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us... (2 Pet 1:3)” and “…your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:5)”

So where is this “Cultural Hegemony” conversation coming from then, because it’s clearly not coming from Scripture! Well, at the same time that we see Socialism and radical left wing movements flourishing in our nation, which are violently opposed to the democratic principles that we were founded upon; there is also a growing concerted effort to coop, undermine, and even replace the Christian Church with Christian Socialism, and cultural hegemony is one of the pillars of that edifice.

Why do I say that? In his book, An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective, which is now a standard textbook in Christian colleges and seminaries, Brian Howell, kindly, (and deceptively I might add), describes the Italian political philosopher, Gramsci, as being, “…involved in workers’ rights movements, organizing for now-common practices such as the forty-hour workweek… and developing a counter-hegemony, an ideology or movement that challenges a reigning hegemony. (135-136)” 

That is all very nice and sweet, but what he doesn't tell you, and what the students never discover, is that Gramsci, was the founder and leader of the Communist Party of Italy? According to the Marxist Internet Archive, Marxists.org, Gramsci was responsible for, “…elaborating a feasible program for the realization of a socialist vision within the existing conditions that prevailed in the world. (Marxist)”, as well as establishing his own radical left wing newspaper called the, “New Order”.

The “Socialism Chic”, who refers to Gramsci as the, "Father of the ‘New Marxism’ in Europe and Latin America", reveals insights that suggest, “Far from abandoning the notion of revolution, Gramsci merely charts a different path to power, in which socialism replaces as a belief-system any competing religious tendency. In other words, Christianity must be abolished by putting something else in its place! (Antunez)”

She goes on to describe the, “Marxist-Christian dialogue” which recognizes the fact that, “If Gramsci wished to kill (that is, eliminate and substitute) the Catholic religion, this means that nothing could be further from his intention than to effect a convergence between the Christian religion and Marxist philosophy… (Antunez)” Which explains why, “Gramsci drew insights from varying sources – not only other Marxists but also thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli… (Wikipedia)”, but probably not the Apostle Paul and the Bible!

Indeed, “Gramsci’s ideas about how power works, particularly in complex industrial societies, have become influential in many academic disciplines. (Howell 136)”, I’m just wondering why they’re being taught to Bible college students. Clearly, the Church is now faced with another "demonic doctrine", which seeks to supplant the true purpose of the Church in favor of man-centered aspirations. This requires each believer to hold fast to the truth found in Scripture and not be deceived by the lies of our adversary, the Devil.

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)

By Pastor Glen Mustian

Works Cited:

Antunez, Jamie. Socialism Chic: Meet Antonio Gramsci, Father of the ‘New Marxism’ in Europe and Latin America. 1989.
Howell, Brian M.. Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective. Baker Publishing Group.

Marxist. https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/

New King James Version. Holy Bible.

Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci